Business @ BrandonGreenlee.com

There is nothing wrong simplicity. It is (simply) the best way to get something done. The irony of providing simplicity to the customers is that it usually takes a complicated back-end to make it happen.

In order to design a 2-click checkout process, we have to develop the cart in such a way that all requirements are met without going back to the customer to request the data. Instead we make a couple of guesses and do our best to search for the necessary information elsewhere.

I do not think simplicity could be more important than it is in Internet Retail. Every second that you cause a customer to wait (or every time you ‘require’ them to input less than absolutely necessary information) you are allowing any doubt regarding their purchase to take root and grow.

Our research shows that customers that are most likely to purchase are on our site for a total of 61-180 seconds. First, let me state that since we are now a Google Checkout only merchant, they may be required to sign up for a GC account which could possibly take 1-2 minutes. If they already have the GC account it takes <30 additional seconds to complete the transaction.

Customers that are on our site for less than a minute are obviously not drawn enough by our sales ‘pitch’ to purchase or bookmark and return at a later time. On the other hand, customers on our site for greater than 180 seconds are less likely purchasers than the 61-180 second customers. They are not as low of converters as the 0-60 visitors, but fall roughly in the middle of the two.

Obviously, one could argue correlation/causation regarding time on site and conversions, but I sincerely believe that much of our data is aligning towards simplicity (short checkout times) being the cause of higher conversions. If we can provide all relevant information to the customer and give them the ability to checkout in under 3 minutes, all the while not requiring anything but the most necessary of information, we have the best chance at concluding the sale.

Providing the customers with a simple (quick/easy) means of purchasing is the most important aspect of a shopping cart design. Unfortunately, it is also the most difficult to foresee and develop.

Startups:

The idea is the product of its business foresight.

The output is the sum of its founder’s technical abilities.

Version 1 is best work the founders are able to put forward. Wherever the limits of their creative and technical abilities lie, will be the constraints that 1.0 will abide by. Things that are beyond their level of skill will go underdeveloped or simply rough around the edges. While there may be a jack-of-all-trades mindset within the group, this concept remains intact for the simple reason that there will never be a single person who is competent at everything. Likewise a small company will never have the ability to polish every part of their product using only the founder’s skill set.

It is obviously assumed that down the road, once the vision is proven successful (or at least continues to exude potential) that other employees will come on board to fill in the gaps. An easy assumption to make- as all “down-the-road” assumptions are.

A company with resources above its own cash flow can very well be able to expand in this manner. (finally a good reason for VC-) However, most small successful companies (by successful I mean profitable) are not in a financial nor a need based position to warrant a completely new addition to the team.

Let’s take a startup of 3 founders who is need of advanced design work. Up until now they have been able to manage the design aspects of their projects marginally. However, it is obvious this is not sustainable and to achieve the next level of development they need a design that can thoroughly match the advanced nature of the rest of the project. The first issue is that in a 3-person startup, the addition of another person is a huge capital expense. Secondly, though there is a need for design work, there is not likely to be enough to completely warrant another worker altogether, much less the implications of upsetting the balance of the ‘original’ team.

The obvious solution is contracting the work out.
This carries its own implications, but may be the practical solution.

A business in between stages of success is always in a precarious position.

E-Commerce
Internet Retail
Software
Basic Business Philosophy

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